Thomas Thomson

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Thomas Thomson, FRS (April 12, 1773 – July 2, 1852) was a Scottish chemist.

Born in Crieff, Perthshire, Thomas Thomson was educated at the University of St. Andrews in classics, mathematics, and natural philosophy. He went on to graduate in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1799. However, he was inspired by Joseph Black to take up chemistry.

In 1796, Thomson succeeded his brother, James, as assistant editor of the Supplement to the Third Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, contributing the articles Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Vegetable, animal and dyeing substances. In 1820, Thomson used these articles as the basis of his book System of Chemistry.

Thomson dabbled in publishing, acted as a consultant to the Scottish excise board, invented the instrument known as Allan's saccharometer, and opposed the geological theories of James Hutton, founding the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh as a platform in 1808.

In 1817, Thomson became regius professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow, and in 1820 he identified a new zeolite mineral, which we named thomsonite in his honour.

His portrait was painted by Robert Scott Lauder.

[edit] Honours

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Fellow of the Royal Society, (1811)

[edit] Further reading

• (1857) "Biographical notice of the late Thomas Thomson", Glasgow Medical Journal, 5, 69 – 80, 121 – 153

• Crum, W. (1855) "Sketch of the life and labours of Dr Thomas Thomson", Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 3, 250 – 264

• Thomson, R.D. (1852 – 1853) "Memoir of the late Dr Thomas Thomson", Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 54, 86 – 98

[edit] External links

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Thomas Thomson", a publication now in the public domain.